Door opening and closing apparatus.



APPLICATION FILED SEPT- I915.

Patented Apr. 11, 1916.

INVENTOR WITNESSES BERTRAM F. SMITH,

OF NATRONA, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO JOHN C. MITCHELLOF NATRONA, PENNSYLVANIA. 7

DOOR OPENING- AND CLOSING APBAR-ATUS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed September '7, 1915. Serial No. 49,345.

To all whom it may concern 1 Be it known that I, BERTRAM F. SMITH, residing at Natrona, in the county of Allegheny and State of Pennsylvania, a citizen of the United States, have invented or dis covered certain new and useful Improve ments in Door Opening and'Closing Apparatus, of which improvements the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in door-opening and closing apparatus, and finds useful application in the automatic opening and closing of the doorsin mine entries on the approach and departure of cars which run in the entries.

My invention consists in apparatus operated by the vertical thrust exerted by the wheels of the cars upon properly placed and properly mounted members. And such apparatus so controlled can be rendered opera- I tive with certainty and precision.

My mvention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings.

Figure 1 is a plan view of'the apparatus of my invention applied to service; Fig. 2 is a view of the same apparatus in side elevation; and Fig; 3 is a view in side elevation and on larger scale of a .portion of the apparatus asshown in Fig. 2.

A door 1 is shown hinged to swing in a doorway 2. Rails 3 and 4 form a track on which a car may travel through the doorway. To one of these rails 3 is pivoted an arm 5, mounted to swing in vertical plane beside the rail from an upward extending position to a position of close parallelism with the rail.

Transversely beneath the track extends a rotatable shaft 6 provided with a crank arm 7, and connection is made between the arm 5 and the crank arm 7, whereby, as the arm 5 swings, the crank shaft 6 willbe rotated. The connection between arm 5 and crank arm 7 is a loose connection, permitting of some play of the two members in their engagement one with another, and may conveniently be accomplished in the pivotal connection shownyone of the two members being slotted to allow a sliding of the pivotal point as the two members swing in unison.

At the opposite side of the track and at a suitable distance beyond the-other rail the crank shaft 6 is provided with another crank arm 8. Another rotatable shaft 9 is arconnection with door 1.

Patented Apr. 11, 19 16.-

and, as has already been explained, crank shaft 6 turns in response to the swinging of the arm 5 which is pivoted to rail 3.

Any suitable means may be provided for normally bringing the door to closed position. I show in the drawings aweighted rotatable shaft 12 provided with a crank arm 13, which in turn is linked to crank arm 10 and thus the weight which tends ,to rotate shaft '12 is exerted to turn shaft 9 in the direction opposite that imparted to it by the swinging of arm 5. The weighted shaft 12 holds the door normally closed and arm 5 raised.

It willnow be understood from what has thus far been said that the door stands normally closed; and that isby the swinging of arm 5 downward into parallelism with railv 3 that the door is opened.

The means which. I employ for swinging arm 5 from-its inactive elevated position to its depressed door-opening'position consist of a lever 14 pivotedto arm 5, fulcrumed at one end against vertical movement, and

swung by the car as it advances. The fulceive this bearing. A set-screw 16 renders. this engagement adjustable. The power'arm of lever 14 extends adjacent rail 3 and when arm 5 is in its normal elevated positionas shown the outer end of the lever is dis-' posed on an incline from its tip (which is as lowas -or lower than the level-of the surface of the rail) upward, Accordingly,

when a carrolls along the track 3 the wheel flangesrolling upon the power arm of the. -:lever causeitto turn on-its fulcrum'in tire. swing the power arm of lever 14 is made upwardly convex; the portion adjacent the pivot on arm '5 is straight-edged but the outermost portion is curved upwardly as shown. As the advancing. car wheel trav- V erses the outermost portion ab of the power arm, arm 5 is swung to its full throw. In its further advance the wheel traverses the portion of the power arm from the point I) to its pivot point, which as just stated is straight-edged, and during this advance the arm is stationary, lying close against rail 3. The tip a of the power arm of lever 14 is free and at all times is substantially as low as or lower than the tread surface of rail 3. The arm 5 and the lever 14 will thus be seen to constitute a shears-shaped or tongsshaped member which normally and in response to gravity on the weighted shaft 12 stands expanded and elevated but which is depressed and'collapsed on the advance of a car over the adjacent portion of the rail.

Arm 5 and lever 1 1 are duplicated on opposite sides of the doorway, to the end that from whichever direction a car approaches the door will automatically open. These two tongs-shaped expansible and collapsible members are, as shown, oppositely disposed, the two arms 5 inclined from their pivot points toward the doorway. They are placed at suitable distances for proper operation, and it will be observed that on one side there must be clearance between the swinging door and the moving car body.

Provision is made for holding arms 5 down and the door open during all of the time of passage of a car through the doorway. To this end a bar 17 connects the otherwise free ends of arms 5. Normally this bar stands at a higher level than the tread surface of rail 3 but when arms 5 are again, under the motive power of the gravityshaft 12.

Through bar 17 both'arms 5 are in operative connection'with crank shaftfi and with the door. However the crank shaft '6 may "be duplicated in a second shaft 6", extending transversely of but outwardly from rail 3, connected to the second arm 5 in' the manner in which shaft 6 is connected to the arm .5 "first described and this'shaft6 n1ay make operative connection with the doorswinging shaft 9through the tension member18 the pivoted beam 19 which extends transversely beneath the track, and the tension member 20, which last named member may conveniently be connected to the arm 8 on shaft 6. By such provision I can obtain a pulling strain on the crank arm 10 on 3 shaft 9 from the normal swing of either or I both of the arms 5, although they are arranged on opposite sides of the doorway and swing-oppositely. Additional crank shafts such as 6 may be arranged intermea doorway and a door swinging in said doorway, of an arm pivoted to swing in vertical plane adjacent to and parallel with such track, a lever pivoted to said arm fulcrumed on the nether surface of said track and extending within the range of its turning upon its fulcrum into the pathway of a car traveling on said track, and means for imparting swinging movement to such door in response to the swinging of the said pivoted arm.

2. In a door-opening apparatus the combination with a car track extending through a doorway and a door swinging in said doorway, of a tongs-shaped member pivoted by one arm to said track and expansible and collapsible in a vertical plane, connection between the opposite end of the arm which is pivoted as aforesaid and said door, the other arm of said tongs-shaped member extending at one end in an upwardly convex shape above said track and at the opposite end confined against vertical movement.

3. In a door-opening apparatus the combination with a car track extending through a doorway and a door swinging in said doorway, of an arm pivoted to swing in vertical plane upward from the plane in which said car track extends, a secondarm pivoted to the arm first named, said second arm being bent in vertical plane on one side of such pivot and at its opposite end confined against vertical movement, a rotatable crank shaft, a crank arm formed on said shaft and engaging by loose connection the pivoted arm first named above, and opera tive connection between said crank shaft and said door.

4. In a door-opening apparatus the combination with a rail extending through a doorwayand a door swinging in said doorway, of an armpivoted to said rail and swinging vertically on said pivot, a rotatable crank shaft extending transversely beneath said rail and provided with a crank arm'in loose connection with said pivoted arm, a second arm pivoted to the arm'first named and extending on one side beneath said rail and making sliding engagement with said rail from below and extending on the other side adjacentsaid rail and upwardly convex, and means for swinging said door in response to the turning of said crank shaft.

5. In a door-opening apparatus the combination with a rail extending through a doorway and a door swinging in said doorway, of a tongs-shaped member pivoted to said rail and expansible and collapsible in a vertical plane adjacent said rail, a crank shaft extending transversely beneath said rail, operative connection between said tongs-shaped member and said door, such operative connection being established through said crank shaft, the said door standing closed when the tongs-shaped memher is expanded and open when said member is collapsed.

6. In a door-opening apparatus the combination with a doorway, a door swinging in said doorway and a rail extending through said doorway, a structure collapsible and expansible in vertical plane and including two arms pivoted to said track one on either side of said doorway and extending from their pivot points in opposite directions and a bar extending through said doorway and pivoted through an elongated pivot hole to both of said arms, means connected to each of said arms for collapsing said structure on the approach of a car in either direction toward said doorway, and operative connection between said collapsible structure and said door.

7. In a door-opening apparatus the combination with a doorway, a rail extending through the doorway, and a door swinging in the doorway, of a door-swinging crank shaft, two arms pivoted to said rail on opposite sides of the doorway and swinging in opposite directions, two crank shafts extending transversely of said rail, a crank arm on each shaft engaging severally the two said pivoted arms, a rocking beam extending beneath said rail from side to side, tension connections between one of said crank shafts and said beam and, between thesaid beam and the other crank shaft, and tension connection between said crank shaft last named and said door-swinging crank shaft.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand.

BERTRAM F. SMITH.

Witnesses:

BAYARD H. CHRIsTY, G. G. TRILL.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. G. 

